SOUTH CIRCUIT PresentsTHIS IS THE STORY OF
PEDRO LUIS BOITEL WHO DIED AS A POLITICAL PRISONER IN A CUBAN JAIL
AFTER 53 DAYS IN HUNGER STRIKE.

Pedro Luis Boitel was a political
exile on January 1, 1959, when Batista left Cuba. He had
been active with the opposition to Batista. Boitel returned
to Cuba and rejoined Havana University. He was elected
President of the student body representing the Engineering
Faculty.

Soon, as many other young people, he
realized that Castro was turning Cuba into a Communist
state. Boitel was one of the founders of a clandestine
organization called Movement to Recuperate the Revolution
(MRR.) He won the elections for the student body of the
University of Havana. Castro's government committed fraud
and had their candidate Rolando Cubelas appointed President
of the student body.

Boitel was detained and accused of
conspiracy against the state. He was found guilty in a kangaroo
summary trial and was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Once in jail he
received other charges of supposed activities inside the jail. He was
tortured and beaten up several times. His mother was humiliated
several times when she went to visit him in jail.

On April 3, 1972, Boitel declared himself on
hunger strike in the sinister political prison the "Castle of the
Prince." He was protesting the bad conditions in which the political
prisoners were kept. After 53 days in hunger strike only receiving
liquids and after he was beaten up again several times he died of
starvation on May 25, 1972.